How to Take Bullets, Howl in Agony, and Die—A Voice Acting Interview with GHOSTBUSTERS' D.B. Cooper

"Teaching you how to take bullets, howl in agony, and die since 2006." —DBCooperVO.com

Voices! They are the unifying instrument in all that relates to expression. When you have one, you can lose it to screaming at your windshield in traffic, dying repeatedly in Dark Souls, or even when Lisa lunges at you in PT. Some voices lull us to sleep, some present themselves through melody, and of course, some are heard from the shadows by the one sap in a horror film who said they would “be right back”.

Voice actors in video games have been a crucial element in the immersion of storytelling in games. As the medium evolves, it becomes even more crucial that the voice talent behind these characters knows how the experience works with the gamer. D.B. Cooper is one such talent and veteran of the industry who has proven over and over that when it’s time to do it right, she is who to call.

Slimer's voice among other exertion sounds don't just happen without hands to the face!

With Activision recently announcing an upcoming Ghostbusters game, I hit up D.B. in hopes to talk about her involvement with the project. Playing as the iconic sci-fi ghost/slob/ghoul who is simultaneously charming, lovable, and repulsive, D.B. Cooper offers up a lot of fascinating points on how to execute the portrayal of Slimer. We go into these details in this podcast along with her work in BioShock 2, Game of Thrones: Ascent, the upcoming Masquerada (backed by Ken Levine, worth noting) and her work as a narrator for the upcoming game audio sound documentary Beep. To add to it, she puts me through some VO training. While I am no actor myself, I quickly learned to further appreciate some of the finer points of the art that originally flew right over my head. Do you know how to sound like you’re being hit hard, while correctly sounding like Solid Snake vs., say, Boo Boo Bear? There’s a lot that goes into that than even I originally thought, and I am definitely a person who thinks way too much.

It is with great pleasure to present this new episode of GameTyrant Audio, featuring one of the all time greats in video game voice acting!

This week's episode also features the first ever Kickstarter Spotlight! This week is all about Microid, featured earlier on the site. Check it out! 

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